Growing Up Means Friendships Are Tested (But Not Always As One Expects
by TalysAlankil
Summary: For Percy, growing up and going to college comes with a side of losing sight of some of his friends. Until Jason enrolls in college in New Rome as well…


One lesson Percy learned in the most unexpected ways: it gets harder to keep in touch and stay friends with someone when you're not forced to see them on a regular basis.

He probably should have figured that out after transferring high schools so many times, of course, but Percy's closest friends had all been at Camp Half-Blood, and that part of his life never really went away, even after he went to college in New Rome.

What _did_ go away was the Argo II crew. Sure, they were all still friends, but nothing like the closeness they'd developed after weeks on a magic ship that sailed and flew across half the world, from New Rome to Greece. It was easier with some of the crew than others: while Hazel and Frank lived in the same city as Percy, Annabeth had resolutely gone to a college in the mortal world, and Piper and Leo gravitated more around Camp Half-Blood. They were considering enrolling in college in New Rome the next year too, but Percy wasn't sure they'd be anything beyond old friends by that point.

And then there was Jason, traveling the world, finding forgotten, minor gods, and coming back briefly to carry their instructions to both demigod camps. Staying in touch was nearly impossible for demigods without cell phones. Even Iris couldn't always reach him most of the time—or he'd be too busy to talk long, or talk at all. They still called each other 'bro' whenever they did meet, but after his first semester in New Rome, Percy had realized none of their recent encounters had been intentional.

It wasn't like life was bad. Percy had new friends at college, old friends at Camp Half-Blood—Will and the Stolls and countless others, all the people he had never grown close enough to for the separation to weigh in on their friendship. So thoughts of the Argo II crew—of Jason—barely crossed his mind over the holidays, as he recounted all about his new life to his mom and Paul.

That changed, however, when classes started for the spring semester. Percy, absorbed in a conversation with two of his fellow Education majors, almost missed Jason's entrance, until he heard a whisper from nearby.

"Isn't that the _pontifex maximus_?"

Percy turned reflexively, and there he was, entering the auditorium of Percy's history class and looking more than a little lost. Percy couldn't remember seeing him so nervous before—and it probably didn't help that other people had realized who Jason was. He was a little something of a celebrity, after all, much more than Percy could ever be in New Rome—his name was well-known as that guy who was praetor for a few hours, but few knew what he looked like. Jason, meanwhile, was all too recognizable, even if he wasn't wearing the _toga_ Percy had always seen him during his official visits in New Rome. What he wore instead was shockingly simple in contrast: a purple t-shirt—not from Camp Jupiter, but in a similar shade—and blue jeans. His golden glasses, given by Asclepius, were still on his nose; the most noteworthy piece of clothing was a dark leather jacket. Percy wondered when he'd started wearing _that_.

Jason stood frozen for a moment, scanning the crowded auditorium, until his gaze met Percy's. A silent exchange passed between them, an obvious question Percy answered with a nod, and Jason made his way over to sit down next to him.

"Hey, bro," Percy greeted him. "What're you doing here?"

"I figured something out with the university, so I could follow classes without abandoning my duties to the gods."

" _Nice_." The word felt almost empty, but Percy wasn't sure what to say. So he relied on good old sarcasm. "Well, welcome to the most boring class you could have started your college life with."

Jason huffed out a laugh, but couldn't reply before the class started. Just as well—Percy wasn't sure how long they would have lasted before the conversation got awkward.

* * *

They parted ways after class, vaguely saying they should try to meet up sometime without settling on a time—college schedules and Jason's _pontifex_ duties didn't help, but Percy was pretty sure there hadn't been much effort on either of their ends. They didn't even have any other classes in common to bring them together more frequently.

Yet during their third history class, when Jason went to sit with other students—probably people who shared his major, and Percy suddenly realized he hadn't even asked him what it was—Percy couldn't help but feel sad about it. Like he'd missed an opportunity to reconnect.

Disappointment hung over him for the next day, which didn't help with the paper he had to work on. Frustrated, he moved to the library, hoping the change of scenery would help him take his mind off of Jason's return and the gap growing between them.

So of course he ran into Jason on the way.

It was a brief encounter that made way for little more than small talk—Percy had his paper, Jason was going to have lunch with the same people from history class—but it instantly made things worse.

Finishing that paper, in the end, took Percy most of the afternoon and a good chunk of the night. Being sleepy wasn't the best state of mind to work in, but at least, at that point, he was too tired to entertain two thoughts at once—let alone the multitude of thoughts that Jason elicited in him.

* * *

That random encounter was only the first of many, it turned out. Apparently New Rome was a much smaller city than Percy had realized, or he was cursed—which, knowing his history with the gods, was entirely possible. Sometimes they'd just walk by each other; sometimes they'd be eating in the same place, a few tables away from each other; sometimes they worked at the library at the same time. And always, _always_ , one or both of them had something urgent to attend to, or was with friends, and they couldn't linger. More than a few times, they barely acknowledged each other's presence.

Once, Percy met Jason while going home, and realized Jason stayed in the same residence he did—not far from Percy's own room, actually. Jason had been staying further down the hallway for weeks now, Percy hadn't even known about it, and it just made him feel worse about the state of their friendship.

This continued until the morning of their history final, on the last day before spring break. The exam went a lot more swimmingly than Percy had expected, and he was done with an hour to spare. He turned in his copy, and left the auditorium, ready to catch up on much-needed sleep before he headed home the next morning. But he had barely walked out of the history building when a voice called for him. Jason's voice, as he emerged from the building as well.

"Hey," Jason said.

He was alone, Percy realized— _they_ were alone. And seeing as it was the last day before spring break, Percy doubted Jason had any more on his schedule than Percy did. "Hi." How did one even ask someone to hang out when they'd barely interacted for half a semester?

As it turned out, Jason must have had the answer to that. "I was wondering…would you go for coffee right now?"

Percy managed a convincingly casual shrug. "Sure."

They walked in awkward silence for a while, but halfway to the coffee shop, Jason finally spoke. "I'm sorry I've been distant since I came back—"

"Hey, it's okay. College life is complicated even in normal circumstances." It took Percy a moment—and Jason's frozen expression—to realize he'd interrupted something. "Sorry, you were saying?"

But Jason just shook his head. "Never mind. I'm glad you understand. My schedule's pretty hectic, since I'm still off on missions a few days each week. It's why I—well, you can imagine."

Something about his avoidance turned Percy's disappointment over their lost friendship into anger. "No, not really, actually."

Jason paused to stare at him. "What do you mean?"

"Did you think I'd be mad if you wanted to be friends again but weren't around all the time? Grover's still my best friend, and I only see him for the holidays. I think we could have managed to hang out a few times." The hurt look on Jason's face immediately killed Percy's momentum. Maybe he hadn't done everything he could to hang out either. He sighed. "Sorry, I didn't mean to blow up at you. I just—when I saw you in class, I thought we'd get to hang out again, you know? And then you were just _never_ available, even though we're literally living on the same floor."

"You weren't exactly available yourself," Jason said. "But—you're right. I may have been trying to avoid you."

"What?" That was definitely not what Percy had expected—he'd just assumed their friendship had run its course. "Why?"

Jason stopped in the street, forcing Percy to do the same. "Because—" Jason's body seemed to close up on itself, his eyes turned far from Percy as he took a deep breath. "Because I felt like it would hurt if we hung out more? Because—we could be friends, but with everything else in my life, we could never be more, and—I'm not sure I could take that right now."

"More—?" Part of Percy guessed Jason might just mean as close as they had been on the _Argo II_. Another part of Percy paid attention to Jason's body language—the shy, reserved stance, Jason shielding himself against an inevitable rejection and a potential attack—and was pretty certain that he didn't mean that.

"Please say something."

Percy hadn't been aware he'd been silently staring at Jason. Mostly, he had been busy parsing how much his own disappointment made sense if all he wanted was Jason's friendship—being bros. And the answer was, it didn't—Percy had just never bothered to dwell on what he really wanted. "When?"

"Gods, you really don't remember, do you?" A bitter chuckle followed Jason's question. "The celebration party, after the Giant war. We had a sleepover on the _Argo II_ , just the six of us plus Nico and Reyna. We were the last two to fall asleep, and before you did, you said you were sorry about Leo, and you kissed me." He paused, then realized Percy was too speechless to respond. "I figured you were already half-asleep when you didn't bring it up in the morning, not even to joke about it."

Percy shook his head. "I don't. But—I'm sorry anyway. I should have."

Jason frowned. "Don't you mean you _shouldn't_ have? Kissed me?"

"I should have remembered. It would probably have saved me a lot of trouble right now."

"Percy, what in Hades are you—"

Percy didn't let him finish; he grabbed the lapels of Jason's jacket, and pulled him in. Their lips met briefly, then Percy pulled away. "This time I'll remember." He glanced around, suddenly nervous at the thought that he had kissed Jason in the middle of a street in New Rome, where at least one of them was bound to be recognized, but no one was around. That was a relief; this was all too confusing to deal with without the risk of publicity.

Jason stared at him for a moment, his face turning a bright crimson. "Why did you—"

"I—wanted to see why I'd been so mad that you wouldn't talk to me?"

"And?"

Percy cocked his head to the side. "I'm pretty sure that's it. But maybe we should try again. We wouldn't want a false positive." This time, he leaned forward, pressing his lips against Jason's with more assurance and determination, and lingering there, taking in the taste of Jason's lips, the scent of his skin, the feeling of his breath against Percy's face. "Okay, that's definitely it," he said when he broke their kiss—without pulling away, this time.

Jason slowly shook his head. "I'm still going to be away half of the time."

"And we're still both going to be busy with college," Percy retorted. "Doesn't mean we can't make some time for each other. See where this can go. I mean, we _are_ living down the hall from one another." His heart gave a brief lurch when he realized what Jason might think he'd implied—but it wasn't an unpleasant feeling.

"I—I didn't think you'd even consider that."

"Tell you what," Percy said, reluctantly stepping back. "We go have that coffee and discuss it further. Then we hang out for the rest of the day, and see how it's working out. Then it's spring break, and we have some time to think on it while I'm home in New York and you're—wherever you'll be."

"Well—"

"What?"

"I'm going to be at Camp Half-Blood for spring break, since I couldn't go there during the semester. So maybe we'll get to meet?"

Percy considered him for a moment, then grinned. " _Maybe_ ," he teased, before stealing another kiss from Jason.


End file.
